"One of my youth group kids is at UMD, homesick, and spending her first Wednesday... ever...not helping at church. Can you connect her to a local congregation?" I was responding to that email from a youth director friend in a different state, when I received an email from a campus pastor friend at NDSU - "Thanks for giving me contact info for your young leader. I can't wait to connect with him!"

This is ministry at its best. Youth don't need us...they need Christ, and they need us to be connected and working together to help them continue on their faith journey wherever they are. We get the privilege of having young people in our lives for a short while before they often go off to other places. How are we equipping them now to be launched? How are we connecting them to their next steps?

Every fall I spend time trying to connect college freshman to campus ministries where they are studying. Did you know that campus ministries don't have access to student information? They rely on youth to find them (yeah, we know well that goes...), or on pastors/youth directors/parents to share contact information with them. There is any easy way to do that here. 

I am so grateful to our Lutheran Campus Ministries that are ready to catch these young adults when they arrive! And I am grateful for our connected body of Christ that lets us know when one has landed in our midst. This is one of the many reasons we are better together!